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NYSE Lets Vets March In

Written by: Debra Borchardt07/25/13 - 6:30 AM EDT

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NYX

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- While some interns complain about waking early and working long hours, the interns at The New York Stock Exchange have no complaints. That's because they are military veterans. The unemployment rate for returning veterans had been higher than the rest of the U.S. population, but the last jobs report shows a reverse in that trend and it's programs like the one at the Exchange that is helping.

NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer pushed his HR staff to do more for the returning soldiers and they came up with an internship program. The NYSE began its program last year with 15 vets and placed six with jobs at the exchange or other financial institutions. The other nine either returned to the military or went back to school. This year the class has doubled.

"Typically a veteran intern is older, with the average age ranging from 24 and we have some 50 year olds," said Ed Hunter, senior vice president in Human Resources. "The program is broken into two components. The first is educational, where for the first 2 weeks; the interns receive pure classroom training." Basically, the interns get a boot camp introduction to the various financial instruments traded at the exchange. Then for the next eight weeks the veteran associates rotate around different departments.

Many of the veterans expressed difficulty in making the transition from the military to civilian work life. They had the skills, but it was a challenge to figure out how those skills could be applied to a regular job. The program has helped them make this adjustment and figure out how to match that knowledge to a job. One veteran that was hired by the Exchange, Damien Rivera said, "This program gave me confidence and showed me that my skills are worth having in this institution. That I have skills that people straight out of college don't have."

Intern Mario Bonafacio said it was difficult convincing potential employers that his military skills were useful. "It's been a stretch, but being here at the exchange has helped that out quite a bit." Noelle Cherubim thought it would be very easy to find a job when she finished serving the country, but that wasn't the case. She founded a non-profit organization, Les Artistes de Cherubim, as she looked for work to keep herself busy and give back to the community. She found the program after going directly to the NYSE's Web site and was thrilled when she was accepted.